Geronimo * (1939, Preston Foster, Ellen Drew, Andy Devine, Chief Thundercloud, Gene Lockhart, Ralph Morgan, William Henry) – Classic Movie Review 5582

Chief Thundercloud plays Geronimo in writer-director Paul H Sloane’s tepid 1939 Paramount Western about three good guys tracking the bad guy Gillespie (Gene Lockhart) who is selling guns to the Native Americans. And, of course, Apache chief Geronimo is on the warpath, leading his warriors on a campaign of raids and murder, with the US army trying to capture him.

It is a virtual rerun of 1935’s The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, padded out with stock movie footage (some of it dating back to 1912!), and stiffed with lacklustre acting, stilted action and daft dialogue.

Preston Foster as hero Captain Bill Starrett, Andy Devine as Sneezer, Ralph Morgan and William Henry have the film virtually to themselves since heroine Ellen Drew gets only a couple of lines as Alice Hamilton and spends the rest of the time unconscious. Morgan and Henry play General Steele and Lieutenant John Steele Jr, feuding father and son officers.

Also in the good old cast are Marjorie Gateson, Kitty Kelly, Monte Blue, Addison Richards, Pierre Watkin, Joseph Crehan as President Ulysses S Grant, William Haade, Ivan Miller, Syd Saylor, Richard Denning, Gaylor Pendleton, Pat West, Francis Ford, Russell Simpson, Harry Templeton, Archie Twitchell, Joe Dominguez and Stanley Andrews.

It runs 90 minutes, is shot in black and white by Henry Sharp and is scored Gerald Carbonara and John Leopold.

The story is told again in Geronimo (1962) with Chuck Connors and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) with Jason Patric, Wes Studi, Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5582

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com